Juliet says: ""This brand new, fully revised and updated edition of Agincourt is published to mark the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt which falls on 25th October 2015. I’m particularly thrilled that Bernard Cornwell has contributed a new introduction to the book: his generous acknowledgment of the use he had made of my work in his clever and gripping novel, Azincourt, has encouraged many of his readers to read my book too. As they often write to tell me, they wouldn’t otherwise have done so, and are glad that they have, so I’m doubly indebted to him. (I’ve repaid him by brazenly stealing for my talks his stunning statistic that the English and Welsh archers were shooting at a rate of over 1000 arrows a second. Why didn’t I think of that?)

My new edition incorporates the latest scholarly research which has been produced in the last ten years, prompted by the build-up to the anniversary. I’m relieved to say that nothing major has changed as a result, but there are some important adjustments. Anne Curry’s game-changing research in the financial and administrative records of the campaign has definitively demolished the chroniclers’ wildly exaggerated estimation of the numbers involved in the battle but, in a new appendix, I explain my reasons for remaining unconvinced by her claim that the English were out-numbered by a factor of only three to four. In a second new appendix, I offer a brief and eclectic over-view of some of what I call the memorials of Agincourt, from buildings built out of the profits of ransom to tomb effigies of those who fought on the campaign. This is something I’d like to expand and turn into a permanent record to commemorate the 600th anniversary, so I hope that anyone who knows of a local Agincourt connection will send me a photograph and the details.

Agincourt was an extraordinary victory which plays into our ideas of what we are, as a nation, and I hope my new edition is, in itself, a fitting memorial to the battle, to all those who took part in the campaign – on both sides – but perhaps especially to the king who made it happen.’
"

What the cover says: ‘In this landmark study of Agincourt, prize-winning author Juliet Barker draws upon a huge range of sources, published and unpublished, English and French, to give a compelling account of a battle upon which so many legends have been built. But she also looks behind the action on the field to paint a portrait of an age. A mad king, murderous dukes, scheming bishops, knightly heroes, surgeons, heralds, spies and pirates – the story of Agincourt has them all.’

When
Henry V and his band of brothers defeated the assembled might of French
chivalry on a rainy October day in 1415, it was a defining moment in English
history. The battle of Agincourt became part of the nation’s self-image. For
six centuries it has been celebrated as the triumph of the underdog in the face
of overwhelming odds, of discipline and determination over arrogance and
egotism, of stout-hearted common men over dissolute aristocrats. But what is
the truth behind the battle upon which so many legends have been built?

In
this landmark study of Agincourt, prize-winning author Juliet Barker draws upon
a huge range of sources, published and unpublished, English and French, to give
a compelling account of the battle. But she also looks behind the action on the
field to paint a portrait of the age, from the logistics of preparing to launch
one of the biggest invasion forces ever seen at the time to the dynamics of
daily life in peace and war. She shows how the chivalry and piety that
underpinned medieval society, and the contradictions inherent in trying to
uphold them, were reflected in the fate of those caught up in the brutal power
struggles of the period. A mad king, murderous dukes, scheming bishops,
knightly heroes, surgeons, heralds, spies and pirates: the story of Agincourt
has them all.

Reviews of Agincourt:

‘If you buy just one book of history this year, choose this
one. Juliet Barker’s Agincourt, like Henry’s achievement, is a triumph’
Bernard
Cornwell, Mail on Sunday

‘This book is a model of how to write scholarly history for a
wide audience. Barker’s deep understanding of the Middle Ages shows in many
fascinating asides about contemporary life. Biographical vignettes of the
participants, great and small, liven up her pages. Her style is taut, readable,
informative’
Jonathan
Sumption, London Evening Standard

‘This is the best book I have read for ages … Almost every
page contains an insight into the medieval world. The narrative kept me reading
into the night’
Clive Aslet, Country Life

‘A lively, stimulating account of this bloody day of battle.
It is full of both serious research and entertaining gems’
Erica
Wagner, The Times

‘Her book is quite wonderfully vivid, clear and involving.
She never forgets that a military campaign is made up of human beings. All the
terror, dust and dirt of war is here …’ The
Economist

‘A gripping and accessible account of a battle that looms
large in European history … This
is so much more than a narrow military work and manages to evoke a portrait of
the entire age’The
Glasgow Herald

‘A milestone in Agincourt studies’
Christina
Hardyment, Independent

‘Barker’s great achievement lies in her treatment of the
less familiar elements of this dramatic story … It is an engrossing account,
laced with unexpected and arresting images.'Helen
Castor, Saturday Guardian

‘A tremendous achievement and bound to become a standard
work on the subject. It should be on the wish-list of every historian and
writer interested in the medieval period’
Sara
Wilson, Historical Novels Review

‘Medieval history at its best … This is a sweeping sage of politics and conquest, with
prose as versatile as the longbow itself’
Colin
Gardiner, The Oxford Times

‘A thoroughly engrossing study of Henry V and the battle
that made him’
William
Grimes, New York Times

‘Her superb study … [shows] a thorough understanding of the
principal actors and the world in which they lived’
Mark
Molesky, Wall Street Journal

‘With an eye for detail and a crisp writing style, the
author brings into focus the dynamics of medieval life … An excellent book that
is highly readable’
Larry
Cox, Tuscon Citizen

‘Fast-paced and extremely readable … Ms. Barker proves an
expert guide to the conditions of medieval warfare’
Adam
Kirsch, New York Sun